Sex & Society.Television: all articles

As we’ve covered in past articles, Game of Thrones is a TV show rich with sex scenes, many of them involving prostitution. But Thrones isn’t the first TV series to showcase characters in the world's oldest profession. In fact, prostitutes have been portrayed on television since at least the 1950s.

Rachel recently sat down with Preston Charles (you know, the black gay guy from The Real World, New Orleans) to talk about his recent MTV special, Coming Out, his own coming out and well, then things get a little out of hand...

Halloween is without question the best of all possible holidays…there’s no family BS, no gift guilt, just tricks, treats and terror. But let’s face it…trying to squeeze something sexy out of it is like trying to take candy from Rosemary’s Baby.

We made it! After twelve episodes of fighting, literal head-banging, drinking and cooka-baring, the fourth season of Jersey Shore has come to a close, which means the show’s cast members can finally, FINALLY escape from the cesspool of Florence, Italy, back to the bastion of culture and sophistication that is Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

It’s the penultimate episode of Jersey Shore, which means there’s only one week left to watch the Situation, Snooki, et. al. embarrass themselves and America as a whole in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. So before the cast makes it’s triumphant return to Jersey next season, let’s take a look at some of this week’s most fascinating moments, shall we?

Jersey Shore just gets better and better, doesn’t it? We honestly thought the show had peaked a couple seasons back, and that the cast’s trip to Florence was just a last-ditch gimmicky effort to become fun and shocking again.

After 12 blood-drenched, nudity-heavy episodes, the fourth season of HBO’s True Blood has drawn to a close. The season finale brought most, if not all of the show’s lingering subplots (Hotshot werepanthers? Andy’s fairy hook-up? Pam’s decay?) to some kind of conclusion, but one in particular holds more importance for the future of the show than any other: Sookie’s relationship status.

Summer may have ended, but the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore is still going hard, doing them and just killing it on the dance floor – sometimes so hard that they hurt their knee. But just like Ronnie dancing on one leg, there’s no stopping us from listing the top five most bizarre, intriguing and ridiculous things about our favorite reality show.

In the dominant Western culture, the roles of transgendered, extremely feminine and homosexual men have been downplayed and marginalized, but in many cultures, those men who did not conform to traditionally masculine archetypes were actually treasured as a magical link to the spirit world.

By now, slash is practically a household word in fandom, and a “slasher” isn’t just a gory movie anymore. But the kind of slash that’s about Frodo and Sam or Kirk and Spock has a redheaded stepchild: real person slash (RPS). Is writing slash about real people so different? Does it remain a fantasy, or does it have a greater impact?

Plot and character development-wise, the fourth season of HBO’s True Blood has been more than a little disappointing. Fortunately, even at its weakest, True Blood retains one of its most interesting aspects: The way it uses the hyper-reality of supernatural creatures to explore human relationships.

The True Blood characters of Lafayette and Jesus both appear to be extreme examples of gay characters, with Lafayette embracing stereotypes while Jesus rejects them. It’s common knowledge that True Blood’s creator and producer Alan Ball is openly gay, but does his sexual identity give him free license to traffic in stereotypes?

We expect there to be sex and drama on Jersey Shore. It's Jersey Shore! But sometimes they come up with stuff we just can't quite believe, that we just can't stop watching...and just can't stop talking about.

As the first Game of Thrones season comes to a close, two of its most powerful women, Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen, are found to be seeking power in their respective roles as queens, in vastly different ways.

In today's world, marriage for political reasons is pretty uncommon. But just a few centuries into the past, arranged marriages were a vital part of government and politics. In the medieval fantasy-world of Game of Thones, marriage within the ruling families is almost entirely political and critical to the stability of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

Author George R.R. Martin continues to challenge stereotypical representations of sexuality in service to his character-based narrative in Game of Thrones — In Varys, Master of Westeros, he melds characteristics from differing camps to create an ambiguous, complex character.

At first glance, the depiction of Renly and Loras as a homosexual couple in the Game of Thrones appears to be a radical departure from the novels on which the televised version is based, but upon closer inspection, it was there, it just wasn't so...outthere.

While it’s true that prostitution is seen as a vice in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, it’s a legal and even acceptable one, with brothels spread throughout the kingdom of Westeros — from Mole’s Town near the Wall in the north, all the way down south to King’s Landing. What’s most interesting about the sex trade in Game of Thrones, however, is who it ultimately exploits and weakens.

Recent court decisions and a relaxation of what's acceptable in American Culture has led to fewer restrictions on what we see on network TV. Polls say Americans want the FCC to more strictly control sex and violence on TV, but ratings show few are changing the channel to avoid racy or violent content.

It was the sort of horror that’s only possible on late night cable. An hour-long shopping show dedicated to cheap sex toys. If QVC was a trailer trash mama, we just met her slutty little sister trying oh-so-hard to be Hollywood classy. This was Bristol-Jamie-Lynn capitalism and Sex-In-The-City-knockoff sexual liberation.

Last week, word broke that women don't have sex... at least not according to TV ads, that is. As reported, the makers of Zestra got the bum's rush when seeking air time to peddle their—gasp!—female enhancement product. Smiling Bob could not be reached for comment.

Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Monique Lhuillier and Carolina Herrera all showed their new chic and elegant collections over the last three days in New York. As one would expect, they were perfectly executed, beautifully tailored and highly praised.

Female sexual arousal is apparently a taboo topic too racy for TV, because despite audiences’ inundation with explicit sex-product commercials aimed at men—cum Viagra and Trojan—producers of a feminine pleasure enhancer are having a tough time getting their message across.

In an awards show that’s being touted as “gay-friendly” and “bolder” than other awards shows in the past, this weekend’s Emmy presentation featured same-sex spouses, George Clooney’s gay snuggling, and a straight naked John Lithgow. They even said “Bitch” twice!

The Erotica Lifestyles Expo 2010 kicks off in New Zealand tomorrow, championing such blazing-hot talents as Tera Patrick, Buck Angel, and the legendary Nina Hartley—and even though the Expo has yet to begin, the controversy’s already underway. And we don’t mean “Boobs on Bikes.”

Mr. President, peacemaker, Slick Willie, womanizer—Bill Clinton added Father of the Bride to his long list of titles this past weekend when he walked daughter, Chelsea Clinton, 30, down the aisle to wed her longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky, whom she met while attending Stanford University.

President Obama appeared on ABC’s controversial talk show The View this morning, to discuss topics like the war in Afghanistan and the economy, leaving more racy topics—such as the illegitimacy of older lesbians—to the show’s conservative pundit Elizabeth Hasselbeck.

Seems Enrique Iglesias has started a nude trend. Everybody’s conditionally naked today, as Colombian actress Sofia Vergara may go starkers if her show wins an Emmy, mirroring model Larissa Riquelme’s vow to run bare if Paraguay won the World Cup, while Janice Dickenson poses naked—but not running—at age 55.

It's a given that sitcoms aren't meant to be taken literally. But if humor is based on the familiar, what does it say about us as a society when in order to be funny, comedic heroes are most often portrayed as bumbling boors, while their female counterparts are relegated to the ranks of a more infamous “B” word?

They say you never forget your first: That initial surge of blood as your heart begins to hammer, those small moans of pleasure, your mouth actually watering as your lips embrace the object of your desire.